Sustainability Enhancement of a Turbine Vane Manufacturing Cell through Digital Simulation-Based Design

Alessandra Caggiano, Adelaide Marzano and Roberto Teti
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Alessandra Caggiano: Fraunhofer Joint Laboratory of Excellence on Advanced Production Technology (Fh-J_LEAPT Naples), Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Naples 80125, Italy
Adelaide Marzano: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK
Roberto Teti: Fraunhofer Joint Laboratory of Excellence on Advanced Production Technology (Fh-J_LEAPT Naples), Department of Chemical, Materials and Industrial Production Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Naples 80125, Italy

Energies, 2016, vol. 9, issue 10, 1-16

Abstract: Modern manufacturing systems should satisfy emerging needs related to sustainable development. The design of sustainable manufacturing systems can be valuably supported by simulation, traditionally employed mainly for time and cost reduction. In this paper, a multi-purpose digital simulation approach is proposed to deal with sustainable manufacturing systems design through Discrete Event Simulation (DES) and 3D digital human modelling. DES models integrated with data on power consumption of the manufacturing equipment are utilized to simulate different scenarios with the aim to improve productivity as well as energy efficiency, avoiding resource and energy waste. 3D simulation based on digital human modelling is employed to assess human factors issues related to ergonomics and safety of manufacturing systems. The approach is implemented for the sustainability enhancement of a real manufacturing cell of the aerospace industry, automated by robotic deburring. Alternative scenarios are proposed and simulated, obtaining a significant improvement in terms of energy efficiency (?87%) for the new deburring cell, and a reduction of energy consumption around ?69% for the coordinate measuring machine, with high potential annual energy cost savings and increased energy efficiency. Moreover, the simulation-based ergonomic assessment of human operator postures allows 25% improvement of the workcell ergonomic index.

Keywords: manufacturing systems; sustainable development; simulation; discrete event simulation; 3D digital human modelling; energy management; ergonomics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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